Plant for the manufacture of carbureted water-gas.



A. G. GLASGOW.

PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE or OARBURETBD WATER GAS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 20, 1908. 1,047,201 Patented Dec. 17, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WI TNESSES arm/arm.

A. G. GLASGOW. I PLANT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF OARBURETED WATER GAS.

' APPLICATION FILED NOV. 20, 1908. 1,047,201 Patented Dec. 17, 1912.

2 SHEETS-"SHEET 2.

WITNESSES INF/E N TOR W I Arm/mm.

, UNITED STATES:PATENTI IQ ARTHUR e. GLASGOW, or nIcHMoNn, VIRGINIA.

PLANT FOR THE manura'cruncs or can-nunn'rnnwarnnseas;

To a ll 'wh om it may concern ,Be it knownthat I, ARTHUR G. GLASGOW;

' a citizen of the'United States of America, a

"provide a practical and effective apparatus resident of the city of Richmond, $tate of Virginia, but-temporarilyan inhabitant of the city of Westminsten'county of London,

England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Plants for the Manufacture of Carbureted Water-Gas, ofwhlch the following is atrue and exact description,

reference being had to the accompanyin drawings, which'form a part thereof. v

My present invention relates especially to the manufacture of carbureted water by;

the Lowe process and has 'for one of its objects 'to provide-a novel and effect ve apparatu's" for cooling the newly made gas and freeing it from carbonaceous impurities "and at the same time efficiently utilizing the heat abstractedfrom the gas.

. A further object of the invention is to for utilizing the sensible heat contained. in

he, gaseous blast products in conjunction with the heat abstracted from the newly made gas in the generation of steam which may be employed for any desirable purpose s in the manufacture-of the water gas,thus entirely or largely avoiding the use of in' dependent boiler fuel.

In treating the newly made gas in accordi it must be arranged so that the gas will imance with the present invention, Ifirst free the gas of carbonaceous impurities which would deposit on or clog up the gas cooling fiues by forcing the heatcd lgas into contact with water in such manner that the water collects a large proportionof such impurities-into a tarry fluid that settles and outflows automatically, while the wateris largely converted into steam, which passes out the tarry impurities collected from the gas by the water; but I do not rely on the flow of water out of the cleansing chamber as a means for obtaining any sen sihle abstractionof heat from the-gas. From the cleansing chamber I passthe'gas and I Specification. Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 17, 1912. Application-filed November 20, 1908. Serial No. 463,576. I

.isteam admixture through a gas coolingand- 'waterheatin'g system wherein the gas and the steam mixed therewith" are cooled and .the latter condensed: and wherein the heat given off by the gas and steam is utilized in raising the temperature of the, cooling .water to a degree substantially higher than The; exact character of the watercleaner or Washer for the gas which I may use is not an essential element of the invention, broadlyconsidered,..but I prefer to use for this pur ose a washer which serves also as a hydraulic seal. Such aseal will perform generating apparatus into the apparatus for treating the newly-made gas, and I have ascertained during careful study of a reat 'number of carbureted water gas p ants WhiCl1'I have built that such a ,washer seal may be so designed that wheninterposed between the fixing chamber or superheater and the gas condenser, it will be efl'ective in preventing I any; troublesome deposit upon the condenser tubes through or around which the gas passes for its 'further cooling treat- 'ment, and will thus maintain such condenser ,tubcs ap roximately in their original effective con ition. i

'To make such a seal effective as a cleaner,

pinge against the water without blowing it out of the containing chamber. When the gas impinges against the waterthe latter serves as a sort of liquid baflie to which the. 1mpurities carried a into contact with the .water first adhere, so to speak, and in which they eventually settle. I

I have also ascertained that the hydraulic seal in such a washer can be maintained in a safe and effective condition without passing the usual continuous stream of water through the washer by using tar-overflow and automatic water-inlet devices which maintain the seal at a practically constant depth, allowing the tar (and any purging water) to overflow during the run while supplying during the blow sufficient fresh water to take the'place of the water that is evaporated and carried forward as steam orvapor by the hot gas passing through the seal. When the steam carrieil forward from Ithe necessaryfunction of preventing the blast products'from passing ,out'ofthe gas this washer-seal is re-condensed with the gas in the usual water-cooled surface gas-com.

denser, the large quantity of heat previously absorbedfrom the gas in the evaporation of thewash'er-water into said steam is liberated. This would requlre a -correspondingincrease in the quantity of water whichit would be necessary to pass through said surface condenser at atmospheric pressure in order to reduce the outlet gas .to

the normal temperature..- But with myv in-- vention, on account of the relatively high temperature at 1 which the gas and steam enter 'the condensing apparatus, I have found that I may confine the condensing water under pressure in a properly prop'or tioned boiler 'or condenser and while regulating the volume of the condensingwvater to reduce the outlet gas to its normal temperature, may bring the outlet water to a temperature much in excess of themaximum of 212 F. otherwise possible, and indeed may convert some or all of this water intmsteam at a pressure materially above that of the atmosphere.

When the newly made gas is cleaned and treated in the manner above described, I

I, have ascertained that the usual scrubber 'occurs. when a scrubberis used and which requires such comprehensive and careful separation before the tar is fit for use and the water again fit for re-clrculation or to be run to waste; moreover, it obviates re-circulation (or waste) of water, with the attendant expensive arrangements for recoolmg and pumping, and enables the heat hitherto imparted to this water and wasted, on account of the low temperature and unclean condition of the water, to be applied to the generation of steam.

A- very .important advantageof my new way of treating the newly made gas is found in the fact that I may recover the heat of the gas without using more or essentially difl'erent apparatus than has heretofore beenused. Heretofore a gas condenser and a hydraulic seal or equivalent valve have both been required. On account of the high temperature. which is. given to the condensingwater, I not only effectively utilize the con- (lensing water as well as the-waste heat for the generation of steam, instead of as here tofore producing a large amount ofwater below 212- F., in excess of what can be economically utilized, but I also correspondingly reduce the quantity of water required to clean and cool the gas, owing-to the fact that the great amount of sensible heat ab- .sorbed and rendered latent in the conversion of the condensing water into steam correspondingly increases the cooling efficiency of the water. V I 1 To jointly utilize the heat contained in the newly made gas and in the blast products, I provide aseparate steam generator or boiler which I heat by the blast products and connect this boiler with the gas condensing apparatus or steam generating section of that apparatus, so that the blast products boiler is fed with hot water from the gas condensing apparatus and preferablywso that the blast productsand steam generating section of the gas condenser may steam in common.

@Heretofore many plans have been proposed for utilizing the sensible heat contained in the blast products and in the newly made gas after issuance from the gas generating apparatus proper, but none "of these plans hasproved satisfactory iii practice. In particular, it has been heretofore 4 attempted to recover the sensible heat contained in the newly made gas and in the blast-products by passing theblast prodnets and the uncleaned newly made gas through a single steam boiler, but in practice, it has been found that thereare almost prohibitive objections to this mode of opera-.

tion; due-gin the-first place, to the rapid fouling of the boller flues with deposits only removable at the cost of great time and labor, wear and tear, and personal risk, and,

inthe second place, to the vitiation of the neighborhood by the tarry vapors, smoke and fumes deposited from the newly made gas and subsequently sweptout by the blast products not to speak of the waste thus entailed. p

With the usual'steam-pressure of 100, lbs.

or more, the temperature of the flues of the steam boiler will equal or' exceed 340 Fah-.

renheit, and in this connection it is common' knowledge that even in simple steam boiler practice (where the'flues are clean and effective)v the combustion products issue therefromat a temperature seldom below 600 Fahrenheit. Now, inasmuch as the maximum temperature of the blast-products or of the ne'wly made gas is normally about .1500 Fahrenheit, it is evident that the maximum probability of a joint steam boiler for the two gases is the, absorption of 60 percent. of'the sensible heat of these gases. This maximum of say 60 per-cent. is,.however, soon largely'reduced by the fouling of the boiler tubes due to the passage ofthese gases. This loss takes place at an mc're- I mental rate of increase,.owing to the factthat the non-conducting deposit bakes upon the sidesof the flues in ever increasing thickness, wh ich notonly increasingly prevents the direct transference of heat, but I mg through creasingly uneconom1ca1- rate of speed. Moreover,

this increasing back-pressure from the fouling of the boiler fluesimay quickly lead to greater. expenditure for generator fuel (which ismuch more expensive than boiler fuel) than the total value of the heat thus saved from the gas, for back-pressure against the blast interferes with the maintenance of the economical rate of blasting through the generator. fuel-bed.

Furthermore, .thealternate use of the steam boiler for the blast-products during the pei better for two -(or more) sections of waterculties with is an elevation partlybroken riod of blasting and for the newly-made gas during the succeeding period of gas-making, makes a separate and independent steam, boiler necessary gas apparatus; whereas, the same steam boiler will serve equally. as well and even gas apparatus, if used only for the blast products. No increase is size of the'steam boiler serving twosections, for the blows (-which are shorter than the runs) alternate without overlapping, and

two sections of water-gas apparatus blow-" the same boiler give a much more constant and efficient heating effect than asingle section. By using a sin -le steam boiler exclusively and almost continuously for the blastproducts from two or more sections of gas generatingl'apparatus, instead ofalternately for the blast-products and the gas from a single'section, I also attain conditions which enable the air-blast to be safely and simply pre-heated. Previous attempts in this direction have failed owing largely, to difii the higher temperatures; but, in my system, with the stack gases leaving the steam boiler almost continuously at the reduced temperature of say.600 Fahrenheit, a further large proportiqn of their heat can be easily transferred to the air-blast entering the water-gas apparatus, and thus saved and utilized in the place of expensive generator fuel, without attendantv difficulty of any kind.

With the above detailed explanation, the arrangements which -I have devised for recovering. the waste heat of both the escapingblast products and the newly made gas will now be readily understood by'reference 'to the accompanyingdrawings, of which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation partly broken away and in section of one form of apparatus which I may employ, and Fig. 2 away and in section taken at right angles to Fig. 1.

The blast-products issuing from the oilfixing chamber or superheater A, in the for each section of waternecessary in the I purities and manufacture of carbureted-water I pass through a steamboiler B, which has sufiicientaggregate cross-section of flues tdprevent any back-pressure that would interfere practically with the most economical rate of blasting the generator fuel-bed, said boiler flues ,having suflicient. length, and

therefore suflicient heating-surface, to reduce the. escaping blast-productstothe p economicaljtemperature, prior to their en'- tering the optional .blast heater C, if em.- ploved. During the run or period of 'gasmaking this steam boiler (and blast heater) is entirely out oiffrom the fixing chamber or superheat'er A by the blast products valve D placed between the steam boiler and the said fixing chamber. Preferably this .blasbproducts valve should be of a design that permits any possible leakage to vent freely into the atmosphere .nd not 'pass forward into the steam boiler, The

stack valve (and safety vent) E by-passes' the steam boiler B. A dust trap is shown at' F. Asmall valve-controlled-air supply Gr is preferably provided in front of the present in the blast-products entering the developedinto steam. p

. The newly-made gas I pass first through steam boiler may be consumed, and its heat.

steam boiler so that any CO which inay be the hydraulic seal H. The gas-is discharged in the washer seal H from the pipe H against the liquid-baffle formed by the body and this body of water collects of water H a large proportion of the carbonaceous imfrom the gas=as mentioned above this eliminates subsequent difiiculty from deposits. H represents the overflow pipe for the tarry fluid into which the carbonaceous impurities settle at the bottom of the washer seal. H represents the automatic inlet valve controllinigthe supply of water .tothewasher seal. next pass the gas through a. primary .orpreliminary boiler or condenser J, which works at boilerpressure and steams 1n common with the main steam boiler B heated by the blast-products;

and then through the normal lo w ressure,

gas-condenser (or condensers) which serve as the feed-water heater, whence the effluent water from the hot-well L is pumped by the pump M into the primary boile'r or condenser J I have thus a compound boiler, composed of two sections; one section being a steam boiler heated by the blast-products, and the other section being the apparatus used in cooling the gas to the desired normal temperature. These two sections steam-in common, but the blast-products boiler is fed by water overflowing from the'gas heated section; As shown, the steam generated in the primary boiler or condenser J has free access through the pipes N to the steam space of the blast-products steam boiler B, and

- the surpluswater overflows automatically by the pipes from the primary oiler J into the saidblast-productssteam.boiler B.

Now, assuming theproper'temperature tobe attained throughout the gas generating vessels, the blast is shut off, the blast-prod.

ucts valve D between the superheater A and the steam boiler B is closed (preferably apparatus until the gas begins to pass through the hydraulic washer seal H.-f ,It' then asses iimmediatelythrough the primary oiler or condenser J, which works at the same pressure as the blast-products steam boiler B, and is coupled thereto by the pipes N so that-they steam in common, while the surplus water overflowing from the primary boiler J through the pipes '0 feeds the said steam boiler B. In the design of this primary boiler J, Itake advantage of thecounter-current principle, the water and the heating gas flowing in opposite directions. As shown, the heated water rises naturally from its inlet. at the bottom, by gravity, as well as by the confined course of its current, whereas the gas travels downward in reverse direction. It is obvious, therefore, that if the primary boiler be of proper crosssection and sufiiciently long the gas can be 45 pump M between the primary boiler .J and made to leave the bottom at practically the temperature of the entering water, provided the steam beidrawn away from the top as fast as it is generated. A condenser of such a. size working at say lbs'. pressure.

would, however, entail unnecessary expense, $0, in practice, I use preferably thesmall primary boiler J, so proportioned that 'it'reduces the gas to a temperature which prevents any steam being generated in the adthe said'lowressure condenser K. I, therefore, have t a gas issuing from the final condenser abnormal temperature; the cold boiler feed water entering sa id condenser at approximately the same poi t; the boiler feed pum drawingfrom the-a tomatic hotwell on t e top of the condenser, and delivering this eflluentjhot condenser water into the rimary boiler or condenser against the. regu ar'working steam pressure. This hot water then traverses the whole length of t e primary boiler in counterrdirection to the flow of the hot therein, and. the steam thus generated Joins with'the steam generated in the main steam boiler. That ortion of the'water fed into the primary oiler which is not 'convertedt'o steam therein overflows automatically into the water space of the main steam boiler, and is there converted into steam by the waste heato the blast products; and the stack gases from the main steam boiler optionally pre-heat the. air-blast. I ,thus recover and. utilize simply and almost automatically, nearly th whole of :the heat contained in the blast products and the newly-made gas.

.I have shown preferably one steam boile: B (with optional air-blast heater 0), heate alternately by the blast-products from twi sections of gas-generating apparat s A either or both of, which sections can ri sadil bypass the steam boiler B by opening thi the gas from one section of generating ap paratus. Manifestly, this in icated group ing may be re-arranged at will; but,,inas much as theblasting periods are usuall much shorter than the gas-making eriods the blows with two sections nee nevei overlap, whereas the runs must usuall overlap for a considerable time; hence it i: convenient to treat the blast-products jointl and the gas separately.

For startin up cold plant or where ap paratus is use intermittently or under othei circumstances, it ma be necessary or de sirable to have an in ependently-fired boilei as shown at P to supplement my waste hea' system. Under such circumstances I pre fer that said independent boiler should b4 connected with -my compound boiler, as in dicateigl by the steam pipe Q and the watei 1 e P lhe novel method of handling the gaseom products issuing from the gas generating ap paratusdisclosed, but not claimed herein, 5: claimed in m 00- ending application, Seria No. 709,331 led uly 15, 1912,'as a divisioi of this application. y

Having now described my invention, whar I.claim as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent is, v

1. A. plant for the manufacture of car bureted water gas, comprising in combina ti'on with the gas producing and carburet ing apparatus, steam generating apparatu: comprising water containing means and tw separate sets ofpassages traversing saic means'for hot gases for heating and vapor izing thewater contained therein, and mean: for passing the blast products from the ga: producin apparatus exclusively througl one set 0 said passages and the newly mad 'carbureted gas exclusively through the othei 'set of said passages without first cooling newly made gas or blast products to a tem perature below that at which they an effective .to convert water into steam' at z by the sensible heat of both the blast products and the newly. made gas is utilized inthe generation of steam, while at the same time the emission of smoky hydrocarbon and 'the fouling of said passages are minlmized.

2. A plant for the manufacture of carbureted water gas, comprising in combinaand carbureting tion with the gas produclng apparatus, steam generating apparatus, comprising water containing means and two separate sets of passages traversing said means for passing the blast products from the gas producing apparatus exclusively through one set of said passages and the newly made carbureted gas exclusively through the other set of said passages, gas purifying means interposed between the gas producing apparatus and the boiler pas.- sages receiving the newly made gas and tending to lower the temperature of the lat-- ter but adapted to discharge the newly made gas at a. temperature high enough to be effective in converting water into steam at a ressure suit-able for power purposes, whereby the sensible heat of both blast products and the newly made gas are utilized in the generation. of steam; while at the same time the emission of smoky hydrocarbons and the fouling of said passages are minimized. g

3. Ina carbureted water gas plant, means for utilizing the heat contained in the escaping gaseous products from the gas generating apparatus, comprising in combinationtwo separate steam generatin boilers and connections leading to said boi ers from the gas generating apparatus, whereby the newly made gas may be passed to one of said boilers and the blast products to the other of said boilers, and steam and water connections between the said boilers whereby the two boilers steam in common, and the surplus water from the boiler heated by' the newly made gas is fed into the boiler heated by theblast roducts' a 4. In a carbureted water gas plant, mean for utilizing the heat cont ined in the escaping products from the gas generating apparatus, comprising in com ination a steam generating boiler and connections leading thereto from the gas generating apparatus throu h which the blast pi'oducts may be passe to said boiler to supply heat thereto, a receptacle for heating water and connections from the gas generating plant through which the newly made gas may be passed to said receptacleto heat the water contained therein, a connection between the receptacle and boiler through which water overflows from the receptacle to the boiler, and means forsupplying water to the receptacle against the head due to the boiler pressure.

5; In a system for generating steam and utilizing the waste heat in the gaseous prodnets of a carbureted watergas plant, the

combination of three separate steam generating boilers, connections coupling the three boilers so that they may steam in common,

means for causing one'of' said boilers to be) heated by the blast products of the gas generating plant, means for causing another of .said boilers to be heated by the newly made gas from the gas generating plant, and separate and independent means by which the third boiler maybe heated.

6, In a carbureted water gas plant, the combination with the gas generating and carbureting means of means for utilizing the heat contained in the newly made gas in the generation of steam, comprising a hydraulic washer seal through which the newly made gas is passed without material reduction in temperature and cleaned in passing, arranged to operate under such conditions that the gas issues therefrom at a temperature materially above'2l2 F mixed with super-- heated steam evaporated from the seal, a

surface condenser through which the gas is passed from the water seal, said condenser eing arranged in one or more sections, means for maintaining the pressure of the cooling water in said surface condenser, or in the section of it into which the gas is first introduced, materially above that of the atmosphere, and means for forcing water into said condenser, or the high pressure section thereof, against the'head due to the pressure maintained therein. A w

7. In a carbureted water gas plant, means for utilizing the heat contained in the newly made gas, comprising a hydraulic washer seal through which the gas, is passed from the gas generating plant and adjacent'condensers through which the gas is passed in series, means for operating the condensers under such conditions that the pressure of the cooling water in one condenser is substantially higher than the pressure of the atmosphere and thepressure maintained in the other condenser, and means for forcing the partially heated water fromthe low in the escaping gaseousproducts from said sections, comprising in combination a steam boiler heated by the blast product-s from a plurality of sections of the gas generating plant, a separate water heater for each. of

said sections, means for causin the newly made gas from each of said sections to supply heat to thecorresponding one of said water heaters, and me'ansfor causing water heated by said water heatersto pass into said boiler.

9. In a carbureted water gas plant composed of two or more gas generating sections, means for utilizing the heat contained in the escaping gaseous products from said sections, comprising in combination a steam boiler heated by the blast products from a plurality of sections of the gas generating plant, a separate water heater for each of said sections, means for causing the newly made'gas from each of said sections to supplyheat to the corresponding one of said water heaters, means forca'uslng the Water heated by said Water heaters to pass into said boilers, an air blast heater situated in the path of th'estack gases from the boiler and a supplementary stack valve by-passing the steam boilers substantially as described.

10. Means for preventing the emission of smoky hydrocarbon gases from steam boilers operated by both thehigh temperature blast gases and the high temperature carbureted Water gas issuing from the interior of a carbureted Water gas apparatus, which comprises boiler passages exclusively for the ceous material deposited from the carbureted Water gas, substantially as described.

. ARTHUR G. GLASGOW.

Witnesses: v

ARNOLD KA'rz, D. STEWARD; 

